We Were Soldiers Once...And Young

New York: Random House, 1992. Uncorrected Proof. 8vo. 24cm x 15.5cm. Publisher's printed card wraps, some scuffing to the laminate here and there but otherwise a near fine copy. 402pp. Internally clean. Black and white charts and diagrams to prelims. A calm, informed, nothing held back account of one the most influential battles of the early stages of the Vietnam conflict. Moore and Galloway, both present for the events of the book, Moore in command, and Galloway as a correspondent, recount step by step the progress of the battle; the first major engagement of the war, the first to extensively use helicopters to drop troops and equipment into battle, and the first engagment to utilise B-25 bombers as air support. Galloway describes Ia Drang as "The battle that convinced Ho Chi Minh he could win.", although that had little to do with the fighting ability of the 7th Cavalry, and more to do with the swift tactics lessons the battle offered, and the realisation that the US could take, but not hold, fight, but not pursue, and they could destroy, but only what was on the surface. It changed the course of the conflict for both sides, and took many prior strategic techniques back to the drawing board. Uncorrected proofs of this title are quite scarce.